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The following are today's upgrades for Validea's Low PE Investor model based on the published strategy of John Neff. This strategy looks for firms with persistent earnings growth that trade at a discount relative to their earnings growth and dividend yield.

BASIC SANT CPY OF THE STA PUL SBSP (ADR) (SBS) is a large-cap growth stock in the Water Utilities industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 79% to 98% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo SABESP is a water and sewage service provider. The Company provides water and sewage services to a range of residential, commercial, industrial and governmental customers in over 360 municipalities in the state of Sao Paulo, including the city of Sao Paulo. The Company's segments include Water and Sewage. The Company also supplies treated water on a wholesale basis to approximately 10 municipalities located in the Sao Paulo metropolitan region and urban conurbations. The Company's activities comprise water supply, sanitary sewage services, urban rainwater management and drainage services, urban cleaning services, solid waste management services and related activities, including the planning, operation, maintenance and commercialization of energy, and the commercialization of services, products, benefits and rights that directly or indirectly arise from its assets, operations and activities.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

Detailed Analysis of BASIC SANT CPY OF THE STA PUL SBSP (ADR)

NEW MOUNTAIN FINANCE CORP. (NMFC) is a small-cap value stock in the Misc. Financial Services industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 60% to 79% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: New Mountain Finance Corporation is a business development company focused on providing direct lending solutions to United States middle market companies backed by private equity sponsors. Its investment objective is to generate current income and capital appreciation through the sourcing and origination of senior secured loans and select junior capital positions, to growing businesses in defensive industries that offer attractive risk-adjusted returns. It makes investments through both primary originations and open-market secondary purchases. It invests a significant portion of its portfolio in unitranche loans, which are loans that combine both senior and subordinated debt, generally in a first lien position. The Company invests in various sectors, such as software, business services, healthcare, education, consumer services, distribution and logistics, packaging, financial services, and others. New Mountain Finance Advisers BDC, L.L.C. is the investment adviser of the Company.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

Detailed Analysis of NEW MOUNTAIN FINANCE CORP.

SPIRE INC (SR) is a mid-cap growth stock in the Natural Gas Utilities industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 58% to 96% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: Spire Inc. is the holding company for Spire Missouri Inc. (Spire Missouri), Spire Alabama Inc. (Spire Alabama), other gas utilities, and gas-related businesses. Its Gas Utility segment includes the regulated operations of Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama, Spire Gulf Inc. (Spire Gulf) and Spire Mississippi Inc. (Spire Mississippi). Spire Missouri is engaged in the purchase, retail distribution and sale of natural gas. Spire Alabama is engaged in the purchase, retail distribution and sale of natural gas principally in central and northern Alabama. Spire Gulf and Spire Mississippi are utilities engaged in the purchase, retail distribution and sale of natural gas in the Mobile, Alabama area and south-central Mississippi. Its Gas Marketing segment includes Spire Marketing Inc. (Spire Marketing), a wholly owned subsidiary providing natural gas marketing services. Its Midstream segment consists of three facilities Spire STL Pipeline, Spire Storage West, and Spire Storage Salt Plains.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

Detailed Analysis of SPIRE INC

About John Neff: While known as the manager with whom many top managers entrusted their own money, Neff was far from the smooth-talking, high-profile Wall Streeter you might expect. He was mild-mannered and low-key, and the same might be said of the Windsor Fund that he managed for more than three decades. In fact, Neff himself described the fund as "relatively prosaic, dull, [and] conservative." There was nothing dull about his results, however. From 1964 to 1995, Neff guided Windsor to a 13.7 percent average annual return, easily outpacing the S&P 500's 10.6 percent return during that time. That 3.1 percentage point difference is huge over time -- a $10,000 investment in Windsor (with dividends reinvested) at the start of Neff's tenure would have ended up as more than $564,000 by the time he retired, more than twice what the same investment in the S&P would have yielded (about $233,000). Considering the length of his tenure, that track record may be the best ever for a manager of such a large fund.

About Validea: Validea is aninvestment researchservice that follows the published strategies of investment legends. Validea offers both stock analysis and model portfolios based on gurus who have outperformed the market over the long-term, including Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Peter Lynch and Martin Zweig. For more information about Validea, click here

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.